An improved evaluation method to assess the coordination between mineral resource exploitation, economic development, and environmental protection

Abstract

A meaningful evaluation of the coordination of mineral resource exploitation, economy, and environment has practical significance for high-quality economic development. An improved coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) is established to evaluate the coupling coordination degree (D) between mineral resource exploitation, economy, and environment. The improved CCDM is based on game theory and objectively assigns contribution coefficients to subsystems, preventing subjective assignment of coefficients in traditional models. The performance of the improved CCDM is demonstrated in a case study of 11 provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2009–2017. The results show the following: (1) The improved CCDM accurately reflects the conditions in the provinces. (2) The average D of 11 provinces shows an increasing trend, but the D has room for improvement. (3) Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Jiangsu are the top three performing provinces, and Shanghai is the bottom performer. (4) The regional distribution of D in the Yangtze River Economic Belt shows that downstream provinces have a higher D.

Keywords

• Mineral resource exploitation
• Economy
• Environment
• Improved coupling coordination degree model
• Coordination assessment